With little fanfare, MARC opened its new Silver Spring, Maryland, station
on March 24. It is located about a block and a half west (geographically
north) of the former station, and is adjacent to the Washington Metro's
Silver Spring stop.

I ventured to Silver Spring a couple of days later to check things out.
In fact, I rode into town on a Metro train; I wanted to see just how easy
it was to make a transition from that system to the other. Although I was
previously coordinated with the MARC station's location, I intentionally
pretended to know nothing more than what the signs told me. Moreover, I
wanted to guide my way over to the new facility without having to use steps.
(I have no trouble climbing steps, but I wanted to see things from the
perspective of easy accessibility.) With this method, I got lost. Signage,
in my opinion, could be improved - or perhaps this part of the project
has yet to be finished.

In due time I did find the ticket office, a rather drab portable structure
tucked atop a slope perpendicular to the new westbound platform. The building
could be an on-site construction office, hardly what one could recognize
as a train depot. It is, however, functional, though quite small, with
waiting room seating for 12 people at one end of the building and a tiny
ticket office at the other end, separated by a narrow corridor.

It was here that I met Anna Lyons, the ticket agent for the day. I had
spoken with Anna many times on the phone while I was with the railroad,
but never before had I met her in person. We spent about an hour talking
over old times and catching up with happenings.

After walking through the new facility, which includes a pedestrian
bridge spanning the railroad and Metro tracks to reach the eastbound platform,
I then walked down to the "old" Silver Spring station. For me,
this was a rather nostalgic visit. That station had been one of my railfan
haunts more than 50 years ago. On a visit with my grandmother about 1952,
she would take me down to that station to watch trains. Typically the visits
were in the morning, and I got to see the B&O's eastbound Diplomat
and westbound Washingtonian make their station stops. Then on a couple
of occasions I was treated to an evening visit to witness the westbound
parade which included the Capitol Limited, Columbian and Ambassador, each
spaced about ten minutes apart, followed about half an hour later by the
National Limited. Indeed, the station was a beehive of activity with many
passengers opting to board at Silver Spring rather than downtown in Washington.
The B&O, recognizing the convenience of Silver Spring as a suburban
location, scheduled all of its passenger trains to stop there.

Interestingly, the "old" station has been added to the National
Register of Historic Places. Late last year it was rededicated following
a restoration project to depict its appearance when it was built. While
the station is seen as an incremental part of the legacy of Silver Spring,
it was no longer seen as a facility to serve its original function. Instead,
the former baggage room has been leased as office space, and the waiting
room is reserved for meetings and special events. The waiting room was
closed at the time of my visit, and an employee in the leased office said
I would need permission from Montgomery Preservation - the station's owner
- to visit the waiting room to take pictures. So I simply peered through
its windows. It certainly "looked" like the waiting room I had
remembered, complete with its vinyl seats and antique clocks, rekindling
the memories I had of the building's fondest hours. But I was saddened
that it will never again be used as a place to await and board a train.

Historic as that station is, it was actually a rather new addition to
Silver Spring. It came into being in 1945. The original Silver Spring station,
a brick structure (a twin of one in Rockville, Maryland) designed by E.
Francis Baldwin, was built in 1878. The 1945 station was built upon the
same foundation. The B&O needed a more modern, roomier facility to
handle its business.

For whatever my opinion is worth, the "new" Silver Spring
station does nothing for the historic import of Silver Spring. Surely something
at least remotely resembling a train station could have been offered. Take
a look at what was made available at Dorsey, or downtown Frederick, to
see what could have been. If the availability of space was an issue - which
it probably was - then something of a miniature design could have been
offered with but a little imagination. Maybe someday it shall.

A Visit to Staunton Cabin

[By Allen Brougham] . . .

The C&O called to its interlocking offices "cabins." The
one at Staunton, Virginia, now closed, was called "HD" Cabin,
according to one of the local folks familiar with its history. I paid it
a visit on March 16.

By staging a visit to Staunton Cabin, this was actually an "excuse"
for going on yet another Amtrak trip. Really, I don't need an excuse to
do that. I had already been to Staunton a couple of times before, and had
already seen Staunton Cabin. But I needed a title for this feature (since
I had already used the title "By Amtrak to Staunton" in an earlier
piece), so this one will serve the purpose rather handily.

The occasion was the annual St. Patrick's Day outing offered by the
Chesapeake Railway Association. Nineteen members and friends of the association
took part in a pilgrimage on Amtrak's Cardinal from Washington to Staunton.
It was here that many in the group used their excuse in taking the train
to have dinner at the Depot Grille at the Staunton train station, and then
return to Washington on the eastbound train following a one hour and 20
minute layover. But my itinerary differed from theirs by dining on the
train instead. (At least, that was my intention.) Indeed, the Cardinal
is billed as having a full-service dining car, and lunch and dinner hours
are conveniently slotted on both the going and returning portions of the
journey. I was joined on the trip by Darren Reynolds, a friend who had
never before enjoyed a real dining car meal.

An Amtrak fare was offered to the group at $49 per person, for those
who ordered tickets by a certain date, but I waited until the last minute
to avail use of my pass, if there was still space (which there was), and
ride for free. Others in the group, though, found a wide assortment of
ticket prices ranging from a low of $9.40 to a high of ten times that amount
- a phenomenon created by the yield management process and on-line ticket
sales. However this played out for Amtrak's revenue base, the train was
somewhat full, and there was a happy load of passengers in each direction.

My own itinerary was dealt a setback on the going portion, as there
was no dining car. Ouch! Instead, there was a lounge car for use by the
coach passengers, and a custom-class cafe coach for use by those in the
sleepers. Neither could offer the traditional amenities of a true dining
car, but I soon learned that there really was a diner assigned to the train
of the return portion. Accordingly, both Darren and I opted to forego eating
in Staunton in favor of waiting to enjoy dinner on the train.

The tower (err, I mean "cabin") is a two-story affair next
to Staunton's depot. Passengers no longer use the depot, now replete with
trendy restaurants, but instead have use of the bottom floor of HD Cabin.
The top floor, meanwhile, serves as a (very tiny) private apartment. A
sign on the building reads, "Signal House - Circa 1886." The
local fellow, previously mentioned, believes that the building was likely
built later than that, although it may have replaced an earlier structure
of that particular date.

There is no agent at Staunton, so input as to expected arrival of a
train can be accessed via pay phone by calling Amtrak's 800 number. But
herein presents a problem... Julie, the computer voice who answers questions
using word recognition techniques, does not know that Staunton is actually
pronounced "Stanton," as if there were no "u." References
to this name, as correctly pronounced, resulted in an explanation that
the train does not serve Hampton, Virginia. Ha! Twice I asked - each time
being sure to pronounce the name clearly for Julie's benefit - both with
the same response. Finally, I pronounced the name Staunton incorrectly
(first syllable as in "caught" or "taught"), and this
time Julie understood. She even repeated the name (also incorrectly) as
she gave me the time to expect the train to arrive. It arrived about one
hour and 15 minutes late.

To the diner both Darren and I went as first call was announced, he
selecting the Barbecue Rib and I the Swordfish Steak. It was excellent!
So enthralled by his experience, Darren returned the following week, taking
the Cardinal from Washington to Charlottesville. On the way back, in the
diner, he selected the New York Strip.

PTI - Two Years Later

[By Allen Brougham] . . .

[Photo of me with my van, taken by CSXT locomotive engineer
Mike Welsh late this past winter]

My, how time flies when I'm having fun! It's now been two years since
I began my part-time job with PTI driving CSXT crews in Brunswick, Maryland.
I should say, once again, that driving a crew van is a superb way to stay
in touch with folks on the railroad, and the involvement is every bit as
exciting as it was when I was in the towers. Also, by working two days
a week, I can enjoy the fruits of retirement and work, both at the same
time!

Of course, I do not really think of it as work. (Nor did I think of
serving in the towers as work, either, but that's a different story.) In
fact, boredom is my worst enemy. On some days, a couple of hours can pass
without a single run.

But then there are times that van activity is such that crews literally
wait in line for transportation. That's when I really become a part of
the action.

Oh, yes, I've even written a song about being a van driver. Sung to
the tune of "We're Having a Heat Wave," it goes like this: "I'm
driving a crew van, I'm driving a crew van..." It's rather bland,
but you get the idea.

I'm what's known as a "yard" driver (as opposed to a "road"
driver), and my duties involve transporting crews within the yard, between
the yard and the motel, and between the yard and close-by points within
about a 15-mile radius of Brunswick.

The job begins at 1:30 in the afternoon. Two vans are assigned to Brunswick
during the hours of my shift, and we assemble outside the yard office in
first-in-first-out fashion and await the next assignment. Each van is equipped
with a two-way radio with railroad frequencies, and we get our instructions
from the yardmaster. On average there are about ten assignments in an eight-hour
shift, covering about 40 total miles of travel. Between runs I get to enjoy
the comfort of the van, read the paper, listen to the FM radio, or the
CD player, or yak with the other driver... and sometimes I take a nap.
(A 30-minute nap is the norm.)

On some occasions, I'm assigned to remain with a crew while they perform
switching duties, then take them to the head end of the train, or wherever,
when they're finished. Meanwhile, I get to relax in the comfort of the
van while the crew members do their work (in the rain, or snow, and in
all kinds of temperature extremes). I can surely appreciate the hard work
and conditions these folks must bear to get a job done. Make no mistake
about it - train crews sometimes have to endure a lot of misery.

Driving a crew van would never make a person rich, but it's a lot of
fun. At least a couple of readers have inquired about getting a job themselves.
PTI is one of a many companies having railroad contracts, but to inquire
about an opening with PTI, the number is 800-471-2440.

Amtrak to Drop "Acela" Name from Conventional
Trains

Amtrak has decided to drop the "Acela" brand name from its
conventional trains operating between Boston and Washington. The Acela
name will now be used exclusively to identify Amtrak's premier high-speed
service. The name, a combination of acceleration and excellence, was announced
in early 1999 to identify most trains operating in the Northeast Corridor
once new high-speed train sets, then being built, were put into service.
Trains then known as NortheastDirect were eventually renamed "Acela
Regional," and they will now be known simply as "Regional."

CSXT Modifies Fuel Cost Recovery Program

CSXT has announced a modification to its fuel cost recovery program.
Under the new program, fuel surcharges will be adjusted up or down 0.4
percent for every dollar increase or decrease in oil prices above $23 per
barrel. Charges will be determined monthly based on the 30-day average
price of West Texas intermediate crude oil.

Franklin Carr Dies

Franklin J. Carr, who was responsible for most of the graphic images
associated with the Chessie System era, including adapting the C&O
sleeping kitten to the Chessie System logo and design of the company's
locomotive paint scheme, died on March 16. He was 62.

Union Pacific Testing Battery-Powered Locomotive in Chicago

Union Pacific is testing a hybrid battery-powered locomotive in its
Chicago railyards to determine its feasibility as an alternative to conventional
diesel locomotives. Called the "Green Goat," the locomotive could
reduce the emissions of nitrogen oxides by as much as 90 percent, according
to a UP report. It was tested in Roseville, California, last year, and
then moved to Chicago in January of this year for cooler-weather testing,
slated to continue until June.

Norfolk Southern Forms Mexican Subsidiary

Norfolk Southern has formed a Mexican subsidiary, NorfolkSouthernMexicana,
to market the railroad's transportation and logistics services in Mexico.
The subsidiary will serve both U.S. and Mexican customers involved in the
NAFTA trades and further strengthen partnerships with western rail carriers,
according to a company press release.

Intermodal Ship-to-Rail Facility to be Built on Staten
Island

The New York and New Jersey Port Authority has approved plans to build
a $72.5-million ship-to-rail intermodal facility at the Howland Hook Marine
Terminal on Staten Island. It will be located on a 38-acre parcel at a
former Procter & Gamble site which the Port Authority purchased in
2000.

B&O Museum Cancels Fair of the Iron Horse Exposition

Because of damage to the B&O Railroad Museum's roundhouse from heavy
snow in February, the museum has announced the cancellation of the Fair
of the Iron Horse exposition which had been scheduled to take place from
June 28 through July 3. "Our focus now is to restore, rebuild, and
reopen this national treasure," said Jim Brady, chairman of the museum's
board. In the meantime, Star-Spangled Rails, the joint NRHS/R&LHS convention
to be held in Baltimore in July, will go on as scheduled with an adjusted
itinerary.

CSX Announces Exterior Upgrade to Headquarters

[CSXT Midweek Report, March 20, 2003]... In a March 20 press
release, CSX Corporation and CSX Transportation announced that the downtown
Jacksonville headquarters will undergo an exterior upgrade beginning later
this month. The building's exterior will be covered with a beige elastomeric
coating. For the most part, the material will be applied over the blue
and green tiles now in place. The re-coating will begin next month, should
be completed in about a year, and will cost less than $1-million.... The
500 Water Street building was built in 1960 as headquarters for the Atlantic
Coast Line Railroad, when it relocated to Jacksonville from Wilmington,
North Carolina. The building cost $13-million to build. It contains 475,000
square feet of space and is supported by 1,956 concrete piles along 500
feet of riverfront.

Dixiana Auto Ramp Breaks Record

[CSXT Midweek Report, March 20, 2003]... On March 7, a South
Carolina auto ramp unloaded a record 94 racks of automobiles (about 900
autos) in a single day. The people involved say that success comes from
a high level of cooperation between CSXT's nearby Cayce Yard and InterRail
(an unloading company that provides the people power at Dixiana). The action
takes place under the watchful eyes of CSX affiliate TDSI, which manages
auto distribution facilities. TDSI transloads customers' products from
one transportation mode to another - railcar to truck, truck to railcar,
or railcar to ship.. CSXT's Aaron Michael, terminal manager at Cayce, and
InterRail's Tim Parker, operations manager, tag-team the trains that pour
through Cayce Terminal for spotting on the TDSI unloading ramp. "We
look at these auto racks not as TDSI or CSXT," said Michael. "We're
working with GM and Chrysler in mind." The TDSI ramp looks like a
giant car lot. Row after row of brand new Humvees and GM trucks stand next
to fields of Jeep Cherokees, Dodge Rams and Chrysler 300s. Parker says
that each of his people unload an average of 70 vehicles per day. "They
made the record this month with no injuries and no accidents," Parker
said, noting that the last injury at his TDSI location occurred back in
September. For its part, Cayce Terminal's yard crews serving the ramp are
271 days injury-free.

CSXT Employees Assist Stranded Amtrak Passengers

[CSXT Midweek Report, March 6, 2003]... Fostoria, Ohio, signal
foreman Bill Faber and F Tower interlocker operator Ed Jerew recently came
to the aid of about 105 stranded Amtrak passengers. Their story began Sunday,
February 23, when a New York to Chicago passenger train experienced an
electrical failure after leaving Youngstown, Ohio. The outage left passengers
without heat, water, food or sanitation facilities in temperatures hovering
around 20 degrees from one in the morning until their arrival in Fostoria
at 10 a.m. The Amtrak crew was going to secure the train on a siding until
buses arrived to transport the passengers to their destination. But Jerew
contacted the chief train dispatcher and worked out an even better plan
to secure the train closer to the facility office. Their plan was also
coordinated with the Fostoria Police Department because it required the
train to block one crossing while keeping another open. Jerew called signal
foreman Bill Faber, who was off on his rest day, and requested that he
unlock the signal office so the elderly passengers wouldn't have to climb
the steps to the tower. Faber responded by traveling roads covered with
eight to 10 inches of snow. But his arrival was welcomed, because it provided
the passengers with restroom facilities, phone service, coffee and use
of a microwave oven so that they could heat food from the dining car. "Bill
provided answers to many inquiries and soothed the ruffled feathers of
some very irate travelers," said Denny Moorman, signal supervisor.
"Ed Jerew provided the use of the tower facilities while coordinating
train movements and taking control of the situation." The buses finally
arrived at 2 p.m.

Storing Leased Locomotives to Save Money

[CSXT Midweek Report, March 27, 2003]... CSX Transportation maintains
leases for 406 locomotives for use in peak seasons. But analysis has shown
that they cost more to operate in the long run because of more frequent
breakdowns, as determined by a variety of measurements. This week, CSXT
will begin storing some of them. "Our leased locomotives rank below
our owned fleet by several percentage points in terms of reliability,"
said Mike Wall, vice president Mechanical. Wall said if the leased units
were as reliable as the owned fleet (29-day out-of- service rate of 5.8
percent or less), the railroad would have 10 more locomotives available
to handle traffic. That's about three to five more trains that could run
each day. Thirty-five of the locomotives were to be stored by March 24.
"In the last few years, our arrangement with the supplier is that
we only pay for days that we use the leased locomotives," Wall said.
"By using our more reliable owned fleet, we expect to increase locomotive
availability as well as save money. This will help us free up resources
- crews and maintenance employees - and keep our system more fluid."

Amtrak - The Canary and the Myths

[By David L. Gunn - 2/25/03] . . .

Now that I have had a little more than eight months at the helm of Amtrak,
I've come to think of this company as the canary in the coal mine.

Not that we're constantly endangered every day by unseen forces - that's
true - but that the problems we've been forced to deal with are symptoms
of a very big problem for everyone in the transportation industry and especially
for freight and passenger railroads all over the country.

The problem is that the business of moving people, whether by air, rail
or transit, is only marginally profitable - if at all - and as a result
requires a significant public subsidy to keep its head above water. In
good times, state and federal support flows pretty well to cover the needs
of roads, airports, transit systems and shipping - though not intercity
passenger rail. In bad times, as we have today, airlines go bankrupt and
the usually flush states howl over billions in lost federal highway funds.

Amtrak, of course, has it a lot worse, as it must scramble for federal
transportation funding that is otherwise guaranteed to roads and airports
through the walled-off highway and aviation trust funds. Federal rules
even prohibit states from spending the federal dollars they receive on
intercity passenger rail. That must be changed if we're ever to meet the
expectations of a public that continues to demand more passenger rail service.

In fact, greater investment in all forms of transportation - including
passenger rail - is exactly what we need right now for two reasons: the
payout is relatively small compared to the payback in mobility, economic
activity, jobs and productivity, plus the inverse cost of not investing
- as is happening today - is paid out in the cost of congestion and billions
of dollars in lost productivity.

We know - for years, intercity passenger rail has been short-changed.
The lack of capital investment has undermined our operational reliability
and the overall level of service we provide. A service like that in the
long-run pretty soon runs out of customers. The same can be said of the
freight railroads, where the margins are too thin and the return on investment
inadequate. At some point, they will be where we are today, and that day
of reckoning is coming soon. Amtrak is just the canary in the coal mine.

While I have concerns beyond this company, I run Amtrak and want to
say a few words about our problems and our opportunities, and what I call
the six myths of Amtrak.

The first myth is that Amtrak or passenger rail can be profitable. It
can't, and others have gotten into a lot of hot water saying it can. In
some regions with enough population density, some services can be profitable
on an incremental basis - what railroaders call "above the rails."
But it takes enormous public investment in track, signals, equipment and
so on for a reliable system, which cannot be recovered from fares. Public
dollars build airports and public dollars should build rail corridors,
too.

The second myth is that the private sector is dying to take over Amtrak's
service. This is not the case either. Remember why Amtrak was formed -
because the private sector was losing millions of dollars covering passenger
rail's capital and operating costs. The economics of passenger rail haven't
improved in the past thirty years and won't change much in the next thirty
years.

The third myth goes like this: long distance trains are the big money
losers. They are like a sea anchor on the whole system. Get rid of them
and the problem's solved. Wrong again. Out of our current year federal
subsidy need of $1.2 billion, only $300 million will go to covering the
operating loss of long-distance trains.

Myth number four is that Amtrak is a featherbed for labor. First, those
who know me know that I'm a demanding manager. But I also know that the
wage rates at Amtrak are generally defensible vis-a-vis the rest of the
industry - especially the transit systems. What we do have to do - and
I mean labor and Amtrak - is deal with the work rules to improve efficiency.
And we'll do that through our labor negotiations, not in the popular press.

Myth five is that the northeast corridor can be profitable. As I said
in myth one, when you total all the operating and capital costs - above
and below the rails - it just doesn't work. The NEC covers its above the
rails costs - barely - but requires and will always require public investment
in its infrastructure. But that shouldn't surprise anyone - it is one of
the biggest contiguous pieces of commercial real estate in the country
and contains one of the most complex transportation operations in the world
next to our taxpayer-supported national air traffic control system.

Finally, myth number six: there is a quick-fix that will solve everything.
This, reminds me of the old adage "for every complex problem there
is a simple answer and its probably wrong." People imply there is
a "reform" that will solve Amtrak's problem - not so.

There are things that we can and should do to improve the service, reliability
and efficiency of our operation and earn the public support and investment
we need. In the short run, this means stabilizing the company, rebuilding
our existing equipment and working to return the infrastructure to a state
of good repair. While no single action will ever make us profitable in
a true commercial sense, we can significantly improve our economics by
focusing on our core business, improving our on-time performance and going
after the excess. We've made a start by getting better cost-control mechanisms
in place, streamlining and downsizing our management structure and getting
out of the unprofitable express business. There will be a lot more that
we can and will do to clean up the shop.

In the end, I think millions of people are going to continue to demand
our service and support a public role for investing in passenger rail.
Our job at Amtrak is to reach a level of efficiency, reliability and good
service on our own that will make it easier for everyone - from passengers
to politicians - to separate fact from myth and recognize the value of
passenger rail to this country. The canary will be better off and so will
the coal miner.